


our bodies, possessed by light

by wiildflowers



Category: The Book Thief - Markus Zusak
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Character Death Fix, Character Study, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-25
Updated: 2016-07-25
Packaged: 2019-05-18 20:25:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 766
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14859678
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wiildflowers/pseuds/wiildflowers
Summary: The sky was a screaming, churning ring of fire, burning red flames and flashing black smoke, and Rudy Steiner was quiet and cold underneath it.





	our bodies, possessed by light

*** * * IT HAD BEEN HER FIRST KISS * * ***

**His, too, if her hunch was correct.**

 

A small, bitter smile rose to her lips as she mourned the loss of it, although she couldn't help but think it was fair. Saumensch, she could almost hear him murmur, and she found a drop of wetness on his cheek, which she later deduced had not come from his own dreadfully lifeless eyes. She dried it with another kiss, but ultimately only found more and more tears on his own cheeks, quickly kissing them away as if it would make any difference. As if it would bring that mischievous spark back into his eyes, as if it would make the dust and debris in his lemon-colored hair simply disappear.

 

The dampness on his cheeks simply spread the fine layer of ash resting on them, darkening his skin and making him look a bit more like Jesse Owens than he had been before, although Liesel supposed he was probably Jesse Owens now, up in heaven somewhere, his bright lemon colored hair and ivory skin covered in soot, racing his siblings from street to street. That same smile would be on his face, that smile full of hope and joy and laughter, and life. The life was long gone from those cerulean eyes, and she couldn't help but reach down and close his eyelids. His skin was soft, and just barely warm, as if somewhere, the sun was shining on his face and he was running, running like Jesse Owens, a few filched apples in his hands, towards the sun.

 

 

*** * * A NOTE FOR THE READER * * ***

**His soul had been the hardest to take.**

 

Dust licked his face and shrapnel ate his hair and the silence was deafening. The sky was a screaming, churning ring of fire, burning red flames and flashing black smoke, and Rudy Steiner was quiet and cold underneath it. He didn't resist, his soul slipped almost effortlessly through the barrier between life and death, a child's soul, still as light as a feather. There was no protest, no attempted uppercut, no screams or cries or bartering. Just a pair of melancholy eyes and a simple, "Please."

 

It was the please that intrigued me, and those sky blue eyes, tearing me apart and putting me back together with one simple glance. They were a child's eyes, a child, hopeful, full of love and laughter and life. That day, that day with the sky roaring in a great fire of crimson and smoke as dark as the night, someone finally convinced me. Rudy Steiner's soul slipped gracefully from my fingers, returning to the cold body now under the almost-desperate form of the book thief, right as he received a kiss to his lips, cold only moments before. A grin quickly curled onto his own, and I watched, almost in awe, as his once closed eyes flickered open and the book thief without the words proceeded to smack him over the head.

 

A soft cry of "Rudy!" simply echoed through the air for a moment, before the tears Liesel had been trying to hold back for such a long time finally appeared, streaming down her face in great rivulets as she pulled her best friend close, murmuring a mix of insults and curses in German, and glancing up for just a moment, to the crimson sky, as if in an attempt to thank any God up there. As if, in an attempt to thank me.

 

 

*** * * A FINAL THOUGHT * * ***

**To this day, I am haunted by humans. By their stories, their deaths, and that single look Rudy Steiner gave me, limp under the roaring sky.**

It is a well-known fact that humans must be the first species to eradicate itself, the first species to sit in their tanks and roll over their enemies. It is a well-known fact that man's greatest enemy is, and will always be, himself. Even now, boots thump against foreign soil, trampling everything into mud and sound. Even now, bodies grow cool and limp as the sky lights up in color. Even now, people die, at such an alarming rate that a being such as I cannot help but make mistakes. After all, there's a reason why many believe the spirits of soldiers linger on the battlefield long after their death; man's enemy was simply too fast and too numerous in their destruction. As I excused myself from the scene, I couldn't help but remind myself that that boy was no soldier. However, Rudy Steiner was a hero, with a smile much like the sky on the day he almost died.

**Author's Note:**

> Man, did I need some closure by the end of that book. A wonderful read, though! The title of this fic is from Richard Siken's poem by the name of [Scheherazade](http://youngerpoets.yupnet.org/2008/04/22/scheherazade-crush-by-richard-siken)! Any and all feedback is greatly appreciated, hope you enjoyed!


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